The beauty of the lacquer is firm in quality and brilliant in literature. In the ancient city of Pingyao, Shanxi, a world cultural heritage, the combination of lacquer and art is a simple and elegant, delicate and smooth, and magnificent landscape. From small jewelry tableware to large furniture screens, the vitality of Pingyao's lacquerware decoration skills continues in inheritance and innovation, and the brilliance of intangible cultural heritage is more charming in protection and development.
Glittering lacquer art
Facing the rising sun, 85-year-old Xue Shengjin walked into the studio and immersed himself in the quiet art time for five or six hours. In his old age, he not only insisted on creating, but also taught art with apprentices. In the palm grinding, strokes of the pen pattern outline, the quaint courtyard is decorated with bright lacquerware.
Xue Shengjin is creating. Courtesy of respondents.
Xue Shengjin is a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage Pingyao push light lacquerware decoration technique. He said that Pingyao push light lacquerware has a history of more than 2,000 years, the Tang Dynasty has a high reputation, the Ming and Qing Dynasties have prospered and developed, and it is one of the four famous lacquerware in China. In the past, Pingyao lacquerware was mainly furniture, and the demand for lacquerware by the people was very large.
This is Xue Shengjin's 85-year-old completed work "Manyuan Fangfei". Courtesy of respondents.
Luxurious and bright, is the most obvious feature of Pingyao push-light lacquerware. This is inseparable from its production process. Pingyao push light lacquerware production is divided into wooden tires, gray tires, lacquer, painters and inlays. Among them, the gold painting process repeatedly pushes the light to make the lacquerware look radiant.
In addition to the process, the materials are also very exquisite. Xue Shengjin said that the real, traditional polishing lacquerware uses natural lacquer, which is the essence of this technique. Lacquerware is made from the pulp that flows out of the bark of the sumac tree, which has the advantages of environmental protection and non-toxicity, high temperature resistance, wear resistance, strong acid and alkali resistance.
"The selection of paint and the proportion of ingredients for natural lacquer depend on experience. Each process of lacquer needs to be shaded in a shade room where the temperature and humidity are required, and there is no fixed dry humidity standard, all by feeling. Xue Shengjin said that simple crafts can be learned in three or five years, if you want to fully master it for more than ten years, you have to study and persevere.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Pingyao's lacquer art quickly declined. After the founding of New China, Xue Shengjin entered the Pingyao County Tuiguang Lacquerware Factory to work, he studied under the old lacquerware artist Qiao Quanyu, seriously explored the traditional lacquerware techniques, resumed the production of lost drum cover paint, and increased the polishing lacquerware decoration process from the past 3 to more than 20 kinds, and also trained more than 200 apprentices by hand.
Intangible Cultural Heritage into modern life
Walking into a lacquerware shop in the ancient city of Pingyao, the reporter saw that in addition to the common lacquerware furniture, hanging screens, jewelry boxes, there are also exquisite women's handbags, Buddha statues, vase ornaments, tea sets, fruit boxes, four treasures of the study room, etc. Waiter Hu Lixia told reporters that they have begun to make private customized services, making lacquerware wine boxes, mask boxes, jewelry boxes and so on.
"In addition to being able to make different objects, in the past, lacquerware patterns were mostly characters from classical novels and dramas, but now the patterns are more colorful." Hu Lixia said.
This is a tea set made with Pingyao push light lacquer art. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xuetao.
Relying on the application for heritage and tourism development of Pingyao Ancient City, Pingyao lacquerware has developed rapidly. At present, there are 9 inheritors of Pingyao's lacquerware decoration skills at all levels. With the support of governments at all levels, Pingyao held the Lacquer Culture and Art Festival, the Lacquer Art Creative Works Competition, the Lacquer Art Exhibition, and published the book "The Development and Innovation of Pingyao Lacquer Art".
The inheritance has been vividly interpreted in the Xue family, and it has also left a distinct brand of the times.
Xue Shengjin's eldest son, Xue Xiaodong, is the provincial inheritor of Pingyao's lacquerware decoration skills. He studied in colleges and universities, advocating the combination of traditional craftsmanship and innovative ideas, and innovating lacquer art with modern people's ideas and aesthetic views.
This is Xue Xiaodong's work "Xiang". Courtesy of respondents.
"We insist on handmade, natural lacquer, mineral pigment production, take the high-end route." Xue Xiaodong said. The price of the lacquerware products we make ranges from a few thousand yuan to hundreds of thousands of yuan, which is favored by many lacquer lovers and collectors.
Xue Xiaodong's 31-year-old daughter, Xue Mengyao, teaches art at a college. The strong plasticity of lacquer materials is the main reason why she fell in love with lacquer art. She tries to combine lacquer art with modern art and environmental art to explore more possibilities.
"In fact, every generation is changing, and they are all adapting to the development of the times." Xue Mengyao said that Grandpa is mainly painted in his creation, and his father combines eggshell inlay and lacquer polishing technology, and everyone's goal is to let intangible cultural heritage truly enter people's lives and let young people like it, so that intangible cultural heritage can go further.
The style of the new era
"Those who have a long history are long, and those who have deep roots have a strong branch." The mainland is rich in intangible cultural heritage resources, and it is of great significance to protect, inherit and make good use of the treasures left by the ancestors to continue the historical context and build a socialist cultural power. In recent years, with the strong support of the state, all localities have taken the socialist core values as the guide, adhered to creative transformation and innovative development, found the connection point between traditional culture and modern life, and continuously met people's growing needs for a better life.
Pingyao push-light lacquerware is a microcosm of the development of intangible cultural heritage. Huo Wenzhong, director of the Pingyao County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, said that in the past 10 years, with the help of governments at all levels, Pingyao has built an intangible cultural heritage database and a comprehensive intangible cultural heritage transmission center (Pingyao County Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall), rescued records of endangered intangible cultural heritage, especially carried out research and field investigations on Wang's gynecology and ticket number culture, and published books such as "Pingyao Ticket Number Historical Materials" and "Jinshang Dart Bureau", which have promoted 137 intangible cultural heritages in the county.
"Internet +" is boosting the rapid development of the intangible cultural heritage market. Liu Xingdong, a non-hereditary inheritor of the traditional gold and silverware making skills in Pingyao County, sold his products throughout the country without leaving his home. Having worked with silverware for more than 30 years, his craft has remained unchanged. "Handmade silverware has an aura that can integrate people's thoughts and perceptions into it. With the improvement of living standards, it is more and more popular with people. He said.
This year is the Year of the Tiger, and the sales of lihou tiger, a national-level intangible cultural heritage tiger, are hot. The inheritor Li Xiaomei received an order of 200,000 yuan during the New Year. Many people see her works through the Internet and contact her to buy them. While inheriting the intangible cultural heritage, Li Xiaomei has also led more than 100 rural women to increase their income and become rich.
In January, the general secretary came to the ancient city of Pingyao. "The general secretary's visit is an encouragement and encouragement to us, and it has strengthened our confidence and direction." We will strive to use our brains to better protect and pass on the intangible cultural heritage. Xue Xiaodong said.
Reporter: Wang Xuetao
Source: Xinhua News Agency